Divided Legacy (Vols. I-IV) is a history of Western medical philosophy from the time of Hippocrates to the twentieth century, treating it as a unified system of thought rather than a series of fortuitous discovers. Dr. Coulter interprets the development of medical ideas as the product of a conflict between two opposed systems of thought, Empiricism and Rationalism.

This first volume of Divided Legacy is a history of Western medical philosophy from the time of Hippocrates to Paracelsus.

"Not since the 1940s has there been a serious attempt to write an entire history of medicine...Now Harris Coulter has written a thoughtful yet eclectic history of medical ideas...His notes, for most chapters numbering in the many hundreds, mark well the traces of the paths that his extensive scholarship has taken. He writes clearly and forcefully as well as provocatively...He has worked mostly from the primary sources....It is the view of the majority of medical historians who are captives of the Rationalist tradition that these massive volumes are meant to counteract. That they will be successful in doing so is doubtful. That they deserve to be read and discussed there seems to be no doubt at all". - Gert Brieger in Isis